On day one, we brought together a new government department whose very purpose is a better quality of life. Improving people’s homes, their neighbourhoods, their travel, the air they breathe, the water they drink.

There is much to do. But we have taken the essential long-term decisions to implement our manifesto Programme, and have a good ministerial team to implement it.

We have a new positive partnership with local government. No longer is local government treated as the enemy within. We value public services. We value public servants. And like them, we want to deliver better public services.

We promised to bring decision making closer to the people. We are giving London back to Londoners. Next May, Londoners will celebrate by ensuring their new mayor is neither Steven Norris nor Jeffrey Archer.

And alongside devolution in Scotland and Wales, We’ve taken a step towards the sort of regional government that I have long believed in, With Regional Development Agencies, new regional planning and accountability.

Two centuries after the world’s first Industrial Revolution, we face a new And momentous challenge – to renew and revitalise our towns and cities for a new age.

As Lord Rogers’ Urban Task Force report makes clear, This calls for nothing less than an urban renaissance.

It’s not just a matter of housing, planning or design.

It’s about jobs, transport, schools, crime and health as well – The whole quality of life in our cities and communities.

We have already started.

£5bn of capital receipts to help imporve2m homes as we promised.

£4bn to regenerate areas in need.

Almost a billion to help lift our poorest neighbourhoods out of the cycle of deprivation. Tackling the causes, not the symptoms.

A £350m package for our coalfield communities, To start to repair the damage caused by Mrs Thatcher’s spiteful attack on our pit communities.

We are offering jobs and hope, instead of despair and dole.

A new style of living – which puts people first – in the concept of the Millennium Village.

Built to the highest environmental standards The highest environmental standards. A social mix of housing. Excellent public transport.

The first two of these are at Greenwich by the Dome and in the mining town of Allerton Bywater.